ABSTRACT
The term “sustainability” appeared for the first time during the 1970s, and it has since been used not only in technological texts but also in government and political documents, though it was the Brundtland report of 1987 which defined “sustainable development” as “the development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. As for Central Europe, interest in the historical development of forestry, such as research into past woodlands and human—woodland interactions, began with the progression of forest science, primarily in Germany, which was referred to as the starting point of the idea of sustainable development. During the 1700s and 1800s, the sustainability principle was a common element of the scholarly discourse on the reform of using forests for the “common good” and the “happiness” of a nation or population in a certain territory.
